In your master’s thesis The Body is Here and I’m Looking at You, which accompanies this clothing collection, you describe your inspiration in the poems of Arthur Rimbaud and your gradual discovery of a deeper self. How does your knowledge reflect in your work?
So far, all the works speak somehow about me and my inner self. In some way they reflect what has happened or what is happening. The difference in this work is that it’s the main theme and it’s not quite hidden. You could say it’s reflected in every aspect of my work. From shape to color to presentation. It’s as if the body is turned inside out and this is the reverse. So it’s reflected in the way the garment looks and feels. What it’s trying to evoke and convey.
You also touch on the process of lycanthropy – a change in the perception of one’s own personality, becoming a wolf, transforming into something else. How do you use this phenomenon in your creative process?
If it’s about the wolf’s perspective… it could be the showing of the inner self. Of something hidden. In the work, however, the word is also used in another sense, as a sign of the artist’s programmatic exclusion from society. Which points us to Arthur and to poets in general, and to what the collection wants to convey and what it wants to separate itself from and isolate… society. So its meaning also goes there. It tries not to follow anything and to be itself. Which even I know is not 100% in today’s times and context. But there is an attempt to separate and break out of society, while critiquing it.
Is clothing an ideal tool for manifesting an inner experience?
I think that any artistic expression is an appropriate tool. My aim was to move the poet’s motives into 3D form. To shift their resistance and add some of mine. The connection I’m talking about, a place of comfort I’ve found in the poems. Gaining an understanding from poets who have passed on. Maybe even a certain appropriation of their work, which I think aligns with their work and their views. But yes, I think clothing is an appropriate tool. For me at least, it’s also the best in terms of connection to the body.
What material did you choose and why?
The majority of all the objects are made of so-called “Kraft paper”, a material that is made by the sulphate process. It is similar to paper but stronger, washable and sewable. It is often used to make bags. But I liked it for its not very attractive appearance. I was looking for a material that would look like the paper that was used to make the calico for the models and also the performance from which the shapes were made. And I came across a dark material that fits perfectly into the concept of the work. I also mimicked the cardboard that held the calico. It is a silk organza coated with epoxy resin, which then acts in appearance as an adhesive tape. Next, common materials like georgette or cashmere or wool are used. All for their drape or appearance, which is always meant to be slightly uncomfortable.
Which visual artists inspire your work?
In terms of fashion, it’s students or small brands. Like Monique Fei, Maximilian Raynor, Stefan Cook, etc… In painting, it would be Rae Klein. But I prefer history, and artists who are from centuries past. I think a lot of people do too, there’s a certain glorification of their work and life which I fully acknowledge. One of them would be Egon Schiele. Other important names are directors like Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ingmar Bergman and Lars von Trier.
